Boy drowns in community pool

A 5-year-old Santa Ana boy drowned in a Newport Coast community swimming pool at a birthday party Saturday afternoon, officials said.

The boy’s mother pulled him out of the water after she saw him lying motionless on the bottom of the community pool in the Newport Ridge North neighborhood in the 5300 block of Chambord, said Newport Police Sgt. Bill Hartford.

Dispatchers received numerous 911 calls reporting the drowning at 2:39 p.m., officials said. When firefighters arrived from the nearby Newport Coast fire station, a bystander was performing CPR. Witnesses at the scene said they had been doing CPR for seven minutes, said Newport Fire Capt. Bob Pingle.

The boy was in full cardiac arrest, officials said.

The boy was immediately taken by ambulance to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, where he was pronounced dead, officials said

Fire officials said it’s unknown whether a professional lifeguard was watching the pool. Newport Beach city lifeguards do not staff private pools, said Newport Fire spokeswoman Jennifer Schulz.

The boy, identified by the Orange County Coroner’s office as Tyler Tran, was at the pool that afternoon with his mother, attending a birthday party for a resident of the Newport Ridge North community, Hartford said.

Firefighters said there was a small crowd of about 20 people at the pool at the time of incident.

“It seemed to be a normal, nice weekend day ? just a bunch of families,” Newport Fire Battalion Chief Ralph Restadius said.

The hillside pool was quiet Saturday afternoon, just hours after the drowning. A handful of parents and kids played in the pool and lounged in chairs in the gated pool area.

Fire officials said the drowning is a reminder that children should be watched at all times in a pool or any body of water. If children are swimming in a private pool without a professional lifeguard, an adult should be designated as the lifeguard, officials said.

“With kids, you just gotta be scanning the pool at all times, there’s no such thing as pool safe,” Pingle said.

Drowning is the No. 1 cause of death in children under 5 years old, Schulz said.